R for the Rest of Us

7 PARAMETERIZED REPORTING

Parameterized reporting is a technique that allows you to generate multiple reports simultaneously. By using parameterized reporting, you can follow the same process to make 3,000 reports as you would to make one report. The technique also makes your work more accurate, as it avoids copy-and-paste errors.

Staff at the Urban Institute, a think tank based in Washington, DC, used parameterized reporting to develop fiscal briefs for all US states, as well as the District of Columbia. Each report required extensive text and multiple charts, so creating them by hand wasn’t feasible. Instead, employees Safia Sayed, Livia ...